The present invention relates to a manufacturing method and a manufacturing apparatus of a thin film laminated article. More particularly, it relates to a manufacturing method and a manufacturing apparatus of a thin film laminated article for manufacturing laminated ceramic capacitor or the like by cutting, for example, a ceramic sheet on which an electrode pattern is formed into a sheet piece of a specified size, and laminating.
Hitherto, in a manufacturing apparatus for manufacturing electronic components such as laminated ceramic capacitors, a CCD imaging device is used for positioning in the case of printing an electrode pattern on a ceramic sheet formed on a flexible support called a carrier film, or cutting the ceramic sheet on which the electrode pattern is printed into a sheet piece of a specified size (refer to Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 8-167544 and Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 10-284346).
FIG. 5 shows a schematic structure of the thin film laminated article manufacturing apparatus of the prior art for positioning by using a CCD imaging device when cutting the ceramic sheet on which the electrode pattern is printed into a sheet piece of a specified size.
This manufacturing apparatus 100 comprises a film conveying mechanism 101 for conveying a carrier film F on the surface of which ceramic sheet G is formed, a cutting and conveying mechanism 102 for cutting the ceramic sheet G on the surface of the carrier film F conveyed by this conveying mechanism 101 into a sheet piece of a specified size, and conveying to a specified position, a positioning mechanism 103 for positioning when the cutting and conveying mechanism 102 cuts off the ceramic sheet G, and a laminating and compressing mechanism 104 for laminating and compressing the ceramic sheet conveyed to the specified position by the cutting and conveying mechanism 102.
The film conveying mechanism 101 has a delivery device 105 in which the carrier film F having the ceramic sheet G formed on the surface is set, and the carrier film F delivered from this delivery device 105 is conveyed to a take-up device 107 while being guided by rolls 106, and is taken up.
The cutting and conveying mechanism 102 includes a conveying unit 110 having a cutting blade 108 for cutting the ceramic sheet G into a sheet piece of a specified size on a peeling table 115 used as a support stand, and a suction board 109 for sucking the ceramic sheet G, a rod-less fluid cylinder 111 for moving the conveying unit 110 between a cut-off position for cutting off the ceramic sheet G by the conveying unit 110 and a laminating position for laminating and compressing the sheet piece by the laminating and compressing mechanism 104, and a ball-screw mechanism 112 for moving this rod-less fluid cylinder 111 by a short distance for fine adjustment.
The positioning mechanism 103 includes a CCD imaging device 113a for imaging the positioning mark printed at a specified interval corresponding to the electrode pattern on the ceramic sheet G, and an image processing device 113b for processing the image taken by the CCD imaging device 113a, and by the correction moving distance obtained by processing the image information of the positioning mark taken by this CCD imaging device 113a by the image processing device 113b, it is designed to determine positioning when moving the conveying unit 110 from the laminating position to the cut-off position.
The laminating and compressing mechanism 104 is composed of a press table 114 for laminating and compressing the ceramic sheet conveyed up to the laminating position by the cutting and conveying mechanism 102, and a hydraulic cylinder 150 for pushing up this press table 114.
In this prior art, the conveying unit 110 is moved by an almost full distance by the rod-less fluid cylinder 111, and the conveying unit 110 is positioned so that the ball-screw mechanism 112 may move the cylinder 111 by a short distance. It hence prevents deviation of position of the sheet piece being laminated and compressed due to thermal expansion in the axial direction of the ball-screw shaft 112a by friction heat, for example, when moving the conveying unit 110 the full distance by using the ball-screw mechanism 112.
Referring next to FIG. 6 and FIG. 7, in the case of moving the full distance by using the ball-screw mechanism 112, deviation of position of sheet piece being laminated and compressed due to thermal expansion in the axial direction of the ball-screw shaft 112a due to friction heat is explained below. FIG. 6 shows a starting state of the manufacturing apparatus 100, and FIG. 7 shows a laminating state of a specified number of sheet pieces.
In FIG. 6 and FIG. 7, point A shows the bearing position at the leading end of the ball-screw shaft 112a of the ball-screw mechanism 112. Point B1 denotes the reference position of the conveying unit 110 stopped at the laminating position, that is, the center of the press table 114, and the distance from point A to point B1 is L1. Point B2 shows the position of the conveying unit 110 stopped at the laminating position actually at the point shown in FIG. 7. That is, in the state in FIG. 6, the position of the conveying unit 110 coincides with the center of the press table 114, but in the state in FIG. 7, the stopping position at the laminating position of the conveying unit 110 is point B2, being deviated from point B1 by xcex94L1 in the leftward direction in the drawing due to the effect of thermal expansion.
Point C1 is a fixing position of the CCD imaging device 113a, and is also a reference position at the cut-off position of the positioning mark printed on the ceramic sheet G. Point C1 is a point moved from point B1 by L2 in the leftward direction in the drawing.
Point D1 shows a position when the conveying unit 110 is moved to the cut-off position, assuming that the deviation detected by the CCD imaging device 113a to be 0. Point D1 coincides with point C1, and actually distance L2 is corrected depending on the deviation of positioning mark from point C1, and the moving distance when the conveying unit 110 is moved from point B1 to the cut-off position.
Point D2 shows a position in which the conveying unit 110 is stopped at the cut-off position, assuming that the deviation detected by the CCD imaging device 113a to be 0 at the point shown in FIG. 7. The distance from point D2 to point B2 is L2+xcex94L2 due to the effect of thermal expansion of the ball-screw shaft 112a. Therefore, in the state shown in FIG. 7, the conveying unit 110 is stopped at a position deviated from point D1 by xcex94L1+xcex94L2 in the leftward direction in the drawing.
As a result, at the point in FIG. 7, the sheet piece laminated at the laminating position is deviated from the initial position by xcex94L1 in the leftward direction in the drawing, and the position of the positioning mark (that is, the position of the electrode pattern; in FIG. 7, line segment E shows the position of the positioning mark) is deviated by xcex94L2 in the rightward direction in the drawing.
Thus, when moving the conveying unit 110 between the cut-off position and laminating position by the ball screw mechanism 112, since the ball screw shaft 112a is elongated by thermal expansion from start until the temperature of the ball-screw shaft 112a is stabilized, the electrode pattern of the laminated sheet pieces is deviated. In this respect, in the prior art, since the conveying unit 110 is moved in the majority between the cut-off position and laminating position by the rod-less fluid cylinder 111, deviation of electrode pattern due to effect of thermal expansion of the ball-screw shaft 112a may be suppressed to an ignorable level.
In the prior art, however, the manufacturing apparatus requires a relatively complicated mechanism of the rod-less fluid cylinder 111, and hence the mechanism of the manufacturing apparatus is complicated, and the manufacturing cost of the thin film laminated body is increased.
The invention is devised in the light of the problems of the prior art, and it is hence an object thereof to present a manufacturing method and a manufacturing apparatus of a thin film laminated article capable of eliminating adverse effects on the product precision by thermal expansion of members without complicating the mechanism.
The manufacturing method of thin layer laminated article of the invention is characterized by cutting a thin film sheet conveyed as being mounted on a conveying medium of thin film shape into a specified size to obtain a thin film sheet piece, and conveying and laminating the thin film sheet piece at a laminating position by a ball-screw mechanism, in which the cutting position of the thin film sheet is determined on the basis of the image taken by imaging means moving in synchronism with conveyance of the thin film sheet piece.
Preferably, in the manufacturing method of thin layer laminated article of the invention, the center of the laminating position is the middle position between the center of the cutting position and the bearing position of the ball-screw shaft leading end of the ball-screw mechanism.
On the other hand, the manufacturing apparatus of thin layer laminated article of the invention comprises a conveying medium conveying mechanism for conveying a conveying medium of thin film shape on which a thin film sheet is mounted, cutting means for cutting the thin film sheet into a thin film sheet piece of a specified size, holding and conveying means for holding the thin film sheet piece and conveying from a cutting position to a laminating position, a ball-screw mechanism for conveying the holding and conveying means from the cutting position to laminating position, imaging means designed to move in synchronism with the move of the holding and conveying means, and image processing means for processing the image from the imaging means, in which the moving distance of the holding and conveying means is corrected depending on a correction moving distance from the image processing means.
Preferably, in the manufacturing apparatus of thin layer laminated article of the invention, the center of the laminating position is the middle position between the center of the cutting position and the bearing position of the ball-screw shaft leading end of the ball-screw mechanism.
Preferably, in the manufacturing apparatus of thin layer laminated article of the invention, the cutting means includes a first cutting mechanism for cutting the thin film sheet in the conveying direction and a second cutting mechanism for cutting in a direction orthogonal to the conveying direction, and the second cutting mechanism is disposed on the holding and conveying means.
Since the invention is thus constituted, if the holding and conveying means is conveyed to a position deviated from a preset cut-off position due to thermal expansion of the ball-screw shaft of the ball-screw mechanism, the holding and conveying means can be set at the specified position by the correction moving distance obtained by processing the image taken by the imaging means. It hence eliminates adverse effects of thermal expansion of ball-screw shaft on the product precision.